In early talks, Gaming Commission impressed by Leominster slots proposal

Thursday

Feb 27, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

BOSTON — Leominster and Plainville casino plans scored higher yesterday than Raynham's as the state Gaming Commission began considering the three proposals for the state's sole slots license, which will be awarded this week.

In the category of design and finances, the Cordish Co. project in Leominster and Penn National Gaming's Plainville proposal were outscoring a Raynham Park application.

The rankings came as the Gaming Commission received the results of detailed reviews of the proposed building designs and casino finances, two of five criteria being used to rank the bids in advance of a final selection.

A committee that ranked building and site design, which included quality of gaming operations and site appropriateness, rated the Cordish proposal and the Penn National proposal as sufficient to very good.

The committee rated the Raynham plan offered by Raynham Park LLC as sufficient to insufficient.

In another rating category, focused on finances and marketing, the committee rated the Plainville proposal above the others, giving it a very good/outstanding rating, while Leominster received a very good rating and Raynham was given a sufficient to very good rating.

In the financial analysis, the committee headed by Commissioner Enrique Zuniga found all three have the have the financial capability to develop a successful slot parlor. But they noted the Leominster plan is not completely aligned with the competitive marketplace. They said the Plainville plans had a better handle on marketing in a competitive environment than the other two.

The committee said while the owners of the Leominster proposal operate the largest casino in Maryland, and that the Raynham-Parx plan partner, Greenwood Racing operates the largest casino in Philadeliphia, the Plainville owners have vastly more experience running 28 other gaming facilities. While both Leominster and the Plainville owners have enough capital to finance their casino plans, the committee said Raynham-Parx "did not demonstrate that they have direct access to all of the funds required to build the permanent casino."

Later this year the commission is set to award two full service casinos, one in the Boston area and the other in Springfield, while federal approval is pending for a tribal casino in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Chairman Stephen Crosby said the final comparisons come after seven educational forums and two public hearings for each proposal and detailed reviews of more than 15,000 pages of documents filed as part of the license applications.

Each commissioner put together teams of consultants and advisors to work with them over five months to score the proposals on five review categories, he said, and the commission is ready to make a selection this week.

"Now it is finally time for decisions," Mr. Crosby said.

"There will be winners and losers in this process," he said, including not only the gaming companies but also communities that may or may not have wanted the facilities.

"We will try to reach a unanimous consensus if we can on which applicant we will select, but we may not," he said, in which case a majority vote will determine the outcome.

Commissioner James F. McHugh scored the Cordish design highly for the quality of gaming establishment proposed and planned amenities, which was one of many assessments included in the design rankings.

The Cordish casino, the committee said, "rose above the others offering a well-defined performance venue" with "very good restaurant features."

He said Raynham lost points in the design category in part for a lack of plan detail.

Other committees, each of which was led by a commissioner, were scheduled to report their rankings on impact mitigation, economic development and project overview over the next two to three days.

The commissioners are meeting at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Each committee is also laying out recommended restrictions and special conditions to be attached to the license, if a specific plan is selected for the license.

Mr. McHugh recommended the commission restrict construction at the Leominster site to a 16-acre parcel, if it is licensed, to require the company to return to the commission for subsequent approval if it wants to expand onto another adjacent parcel.

Using aerial photos, mappings and building renderings projected onto a screen, Mr. McHugh reviewed each of the proposals' physical layout, site problems and outstanding features.

Mr. McHugh said the committee reviewing casino designs visited casinos operated by each of the bidders in other states, including the Cordish's Maryland Live casino in Baltimore, the Hollywood Live Casino at Penn National Race Course in Pennsylvania and the Parx Casino outside Philadelphia.